


Thinking of You

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: mini-drabbles [6]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 23:10:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13914147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: Sometimes memories aren't enough.





	Thinking of You

"I was thinking about you today."

There was a pause, the faintest of hitching breaths. "Caroline."

"Hello, Klaus."

She didn't begrudge him the surprised silence. The decade between them had been a long one. She’d kept an ear to the supernatural politics, listened for rumors. God, had she ever imagined so much could happen in ten years?

She'd left behind her past and had tried to slough Mystic Falls off like painful weight. The chains of her childhood, the holds on her heartstrings had been so hard to let go of and it'd taken her a long time to be okay with that. Maybe that was what really being an adult was about. Learning to say no. Realizing that you were important, that your life had value because it was yours, not because other people gave it meaning. _She_ was the meaning.

Today, Caroline was sprawled on a beach looking at the moon, the sand still damp under her calves. Talking to a monster. Listening to someone who might be a friend. Maybe more.

"I didn't expect to hear from you," Klaus said finally, voice careful. Cautious. "How are you doing, love?"

Caroline laughed, smiling up at the glimmering stars. Wasn't that like him? He'd kept the same number for reasons she could only hope, and now as she bridged the silence he was uncertain.

She liked it.

"You can't just expect a girl to show up, demanding her dreams, Klaus. It doesn't work like that." Her words were gentle, but the meaning was clear. Grown Up Caroline could chase her own dreams, find them on her own.

"Yet, you called me." He pointed out, something soft in his voice.

Caroline hummed an agreement. "I thought about you today."

"Oh?" Surprise, a little cautious delight. Curiosity.

Caroline flung out her free arm, surprisingly content. With this. With him. "I went to Paris."

A shuffle, feet hitting the floor. She tried to picture him, his legs and feet sprawled across the couch, notebook in his lap, and closed her eyes. "Did you enjoy it?"

"How well do you know the catacombs?" Caroline asked, voice curious. The question had been building on her tongue for weeks, curiosity, as always, a pull between them.

"Now, that's an interesting place,” Klaus said slowly, and she could almost hear that quirking smile. "Rebekah was particularly adept at their passages. Why?"

"I snuck away from my tour," Caroline confessed. "I got lost of course, but it was fun. Creepy, but fun."

"Are you still in France?"

"No." Caroline dug her toes into the sand. "I'm on a beach. It's night, no one else is here, and I'm counting the stars."

"And what about this delightful picture called me to mind, Caroline?" Klaus' words were light, almost teasing, as if she couldn't hear the thrumming beneath his words; as if she didn't know him well enough to catch the curiosity. The nervousness.

Her smile widened. Because she could hear it. Ten years between them and she still caught the words unsaid, even just like this. And something cautious, something warm unfurled in her chest.

"I miss you."

She almost felt his inhale, heard his notepad hit something, table, floor? And waited. Caroline didn't know if either of them were ready for what this might become, but it was the truth. She wasn't lonely, not really, but being by herself wasn't something she actively needed anymore, either.

"Caroline."

Just her name, his voice a little ragged.

"I was thinking about Rome." She caught her lip, chewed it for a moment, surprised at the butterflies. "Interested in buying me a gelato?"

A surprised laugh, something slightly rusted. That was okay. She didn't mind.

"Just a gelato?" Klaus teased, tone rich, the heat turning his voice smooth.

"Well now," she responded, not quite able to keep her voice from lowering in response. "That'll depend. I'm particular about my ice cream."

"A challenge then."

Did he wear the same smile she did? Happy, stretching until her cheeks hurt? Or were his lashes heavy, gaze calculating as he worked out every possible angle? She'd no doubt that he'd have a hundred temptations behind his eyes when they met. She knew how he felt against her skin, the intensity of his focus as he absorbed the smallest, barest hint of a reaction. How those hands and lips could _tempt._

“I'll call you in a few days, then." Her voice was a little breathless, but she didn't mind. Caroline knew he felt it to, perhaps more, if his feelings still sat in his chests like weights, and maybe it was time he didn't feel that way alone.

"Until then, love."

Caroline disconnected the call and stretched out with a content sigh. He'd probably arrive ahead of her, plotting, and that was okay. She should make him wait, hit all the obnoxious tourists spots, see how long it's take him to find her. But she wouldn't.

Ten years was long enough.


End file.
